A Belated Review: 2013

Hello my wonderful readers!!

Happy (belated) NEW YEAR!!! It is 2014! How crazy is that?! Is it just me, or has this year flown by?! I am super excited to see what 2014 has in store for us, but as I look forward I am also compelled to spend a moment honoring all of the wonderful (and perhaps not so wonderful) moments in 2013.

This year:

I bought my first Iphone and, subsequently, 
Posted my first image on Instagram

Bought my first vinyl album and went to Nichole's for the first time 

I turned 22 

Went to my first NHL game (GO WINGS!) 

Started learning how to play hockey
Spent St. Patrick's day with family 

Attended an outdoor party (yes, we spent the day outside, and yes there was snow) 

Fell in love with the Como Conservatory

Graduated from college!!

I found/was found by Brooke Kupcho
Attended the first Wolftree Event

Visited the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for the first time

Ran/walked my first 5K! 

Went Kayaking
Went camping in Itasca State Park

Went to two family weddings (congrats again Emily and Charlotte!)
Lost dear family friends to illnesses :(  
Started working at a bank
Saw THE POSTAL SERVICE in concert!!!!!!!! SO AMAZING! 

WAS PUBLISHED IN WOLFTREE V. 2!! :D
Chopped wood for the first time :) 

Watched my dad run a half-marathon in the rain :)
Celebrated birthdays :)
Went to Colorado
Saw my Dad run an impromtu 5K in Colorado
Saw lots of my extended family
My best friend got engaged!
Donated to the Kickstarter community (and began an art collection) 

Commissioned a piece of art
Realized that the details matter to me
Worked on Wolftree's first Ebook, "5 Pies and a Sugar Cookie"
Baked. A lot. (for me) 

Attended the Wolftree cooking workshop!! :D 
Read books. Lots and lots of books. (and contributed said books to my library- also known as my room)
Had a food fight in a bar, and didn't get kicked out
Helped my dad create a rink  in our backyard 

I applied for grad school (all done!!! *happy dance-> like this about 20 seconds in*)
Had 4 wonderful Christmases

Thank you to all of those who joined me this past year! I am excited to see what the future will bring for all of us!! :)

With gratitude and joy,

AK

No-Shame November

Well hello dear reader,

Happy Friday! Most Friday's I post a photo on my instagram in which I share a random fact about me with the #thingsYouMayNotKnowAboutMe hashtag. I began this project because I wanted to allow people to get to know me, the person behind the camera, and also to challenge myself to trust you- the users of the interwebs- with personal details about myself. Well today I am going to devote this post to random details about my life and participate in No-Shame November.

"What is No-Shame November?" you ask. Well, I had no idea either until I read the post Molly Yeh recently created discussing the concept. From what I can tell, No-Shame November is a concept that encourages you to take the month of November and celebrate those guilty pleasures or behaviors that might normally lie south of the propriety line. So I've decided (perhaps unwisely) to participate in No-Shame November by sharing 10 slightly odd and possibly embarrassing details about myself. 

1) I spent my Wednesday night buying Christmas music on Amazon and Itunes.
2) I ran out of shampoo almost two weeks ago, and I've been too lazy to drive to Target and buy more. So I've been using the men's body-wash that my brother left behind when he moved out as shampoo instead (sorry Mitch). 
3) I also tried using dawn dish soap as shampoo- if you haven't tried it, and if you have another option, go with the other option. It will clean your hair, sure, but it takes ALL of the oils with it (including the nice ones that your hair needs).
4) I cut myself shaving for the first time ever this week.
5) I clearly spend too much time in the shower (3 out of the first 4 options are shower related... whoops)
6) I had a food fight in a bar last night, and we didn't get kicked out. 
7) Centipedes and millipedes creep me out- too many legs *yuck* 
8) I have been recording reruns of House to watch in the evenings in an attempt to lessen my addiction to the BBC show Sherlock. It hasn't been the most successful strategy.
9) I think dystopian novels are awesome, but I only read one a year (roughly) because they make me sad and I get so emotionally distressed over the characters and the society that is being portrayed that I literally get ill- my tummy starts to hurt and I get moody and tired.
10) I am terrified of the thought of people judging my grad school applications and expecting me to have aspirations to change the field of library sciences. I don't have huge, field-changing aspirations. I want to work in a library because books excited me, the inspire me, and they challenge me to view the world differently. For me knowledge is precious, and the idea of spending my days being challenged to learn and helping others locate information that will further their own quests for knowledge thrills me. The idea for my ISBN project occurred to me while I was working at the Chester Fritz Library, and many of my photographic inspiration comes from both fiction and non-fiction literary works.

What about you? What will you use No-Shame November to celebrate? 

Outake from a project I collaborated with Molly, Anne, and Wolftree Magazine on. Taken with my Nikon D60 and edited using VSCO film.

Long Live Libraries ;),

AK 

P.S. You can read more about No-Shame November here (Molly Yeh), here (Anne Gillie), and here (Free The Leash Children). :) 

P.P.S. UPDATE!! I DID GO BUY SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER TODAY! :) I thought you should know. ;) 

Reflections on the idea of "Home" and a quick update :)

Dear readers,

I have never been able to give my heart to one place, on destination. Growing up, the word "home" was malleable in meaning- it could mean the state in which I lived (ND), the place where my mom grew up (WI), a specific house (whichever one we were living in at the time), or whatever house we were staying at while traveling. Like ivy, my family roamed across the northern half of the United States- we spread our tendrils out into the wide world while at the same time sinking our roots into my hometown for stability. Our bonds with our friends and with each other were our source of strength, and I could never quite give my heart to a particular town. It seemed like everywhere we traveled to had a different reason to be loved, a different flavor to enjoy.
I was not, however, a tumbleweed. My family was incredibly fortunate- despite being in the Air Force we stayed in the same location for much of my childhood. Our travels were to visit family and to explore the National Parks and wonders of the USA. I am well aware that many of my fellow Air Force friends were not so fortunate- I had many friends who were transferred to a new location year after year, who were truely like tumbleweeds drifting from one base to the next with each set of orders. No, I learned early that despite my love for travel I liked having a place to store my stuff, a place to curl up and read a book, to sleep in peace, to think in. Yet that location was not where my entire heart belonged. Perhaps you will call it the no popular term of "wanderlust," perhaps it is a testament to the wide world to which I was exposed to as a child, but the house and town that I grew up in do not hold my entire heart.
As I have gotten older I have begun to accept the idea that my heart may belong to a much broader place- the North. Places covered in lush forests and dotted by quite (and not so quiet) lakes. Places who accept the fact that snow will cover the ground for a greater portion of the year than the grass. Places full of hardy folk who know the importance of friendship and family, who know that the warmth of a gathering among friends can block out the biting winter chillls. How else can I explain the way my heart soars at the sight of hardy conifers, the majesty of bald eagles, the unforgiving expanses of the plains? The fact that I feel a kind of homesickness when I come across pictures of the northwest and northeast coasts of the US, when I stumble across images from England and Ireland? Is it possible to love the lands above a certain latitude? 

The above post is something I have been thinking about for the past few weeks. Below is the summary of my adventures via instagram photos from the past month or two. :) I have been camping, kayaking, learning new things, and learning more about myself as I go. :) I hope that everyone has had as lovely of a summer as I have been having! #adventureIsOutThere 

Saw the Postal Service for the first time!!! It was AMAZING!

Bob and I kayaking in Minneapolis! :)

Minnehaha Falls

Itasca in July

Itasca State Park! (If you are in Minnesota you should take the time and stop here!)

I got Bob up at five in the morning and we went and watched the sunrise paint the lake and the sky with soft purples and pinks. :)

North Dakota weather #thatNDSky

First time kayaking! :)

Reduce, Reuse, Re-cycle

The camping group :)

#whpReplaceYourFace

#thatNDSky

Itasca State Park- Seriously people, just visit it! :)

 Well, this post has been a bit of a smorgasbord of updates and ponderings! For those of you who are wondering, I am still working on my ISBN project, if you would like to take part please email me at akphotog@hotmail.com. :) For those of you who are wandering, exploring, and having adventures, I hope that you are having a blast!

Thank you for giving me your time and attention!

Until next time,
AK <3

In the Merry Month of May

Hello my dear readers! 

This past month has been insane! I graduated from college, it was Memorial Day and my mother's birthday, and I went to Minneapolis again! I hope that you all had as wonderful a month as I did , and I hope that June is just as lovely! 

Graduation week!

Learning to plant flowers with my mother! 

Visiting Como Conservatory again! I bought seeds to grow my own bonsai tree! 

Visiting one of the wonderful lakes within Minneapolis! 

Spending time with my best friend Anne! 

Going to the launch party for Wolftree Magazine in Fargo! (Go to www.wolftree.co for more info or to buy a copy!) 

And a collection of random images from the rest of the month. :) 

I hope that you all know how much I appreciate being able to share my adventures with you! You have my thanks! 

Remember, adventure is out there hidden in the most ordinary of situations!

-AK